Category: Economics, Baby

Posted on

Stock Market Performance by Party

A CNN headline reads, “From Reagan to Trump: Here’s how stocks performed under each president.” Facts matter! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the stock market does better under Democrats vs RepubliKKKlans, but trump stupid Americans seem to always believe just the opposite. It is unbelievably frustrating and infuriating to constantly hear how the RepubliKKKlan party is the party of fiscal responsibility and for growing the economy when history — actual lived history — proves just the opposite. Yes, I know that the stock market is not the economy, but it is a pretty f***ing good lagging proxy measure of it, which means when the market is up then the economy has already been doing well.

How does one deal with a level of stupidity in the country that cannot (will not) believe their own f***ing eyes? People do better under Democrats. Full stop. No qualification needed. Yet, RepubliKKKlan politicians stand up in front of the country preaching how much better they are for business, the economy, workers, debt, the national deficit, and so forth, and the majority of f***tards in the country believe them and vote for them. Un-f***ing-believable! I just can’t deal with stupid America anymore! There is just so much f***ing stupidity everywhere! Everywhere morons who vote for RepubliKKKlans. If one truly wants to understand the increasing economic equality gap in America then follow the rise and fall of unions — those derided institutions — at the hands of RepubliKKKlans, which they have successfully weakened over the last 40 years and which just so happens to coincide with decades of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Welcome to stupid America!

Posted on

Know-nothing Traitor [T]rump Says Something Stupid

The BBC reports, “Mr Trump said US consumers could avoid the tariffs by buying the same products from other sources. ‘Many tariffed companies will be leaving China for Vietnam and other such countries in Asia. That’s why China wants to make a deal so badly!’ he said.” Traitor trump really is that stupid! Apparently, he has no idea how consumers behave or how economics works, despite that he majored in economics at “the best business school.” How exactly does a consumer avoid tariffs (paying more) by purchasing the same product from other sources? First of all, in the vast majority of cases, a consumer has no selection options about where a product is produced on the self of any given store, especially in stores where price competition is a business’ primary strategic competitive advantage (e.g., Walmart). The reason why people shop at Walmart, The Dollar Store, and such places is that products from China are cheaper.

Second, even if a similar product was available from another source then economics dictates that the producer of that other product would also raise their price to match (or just below to slightly undercut competition) like products from China because they can — there is absolutely no economic disadvantage not to do so. This is a finer point of economics that is not really discussed. Artificially forcing the price up (via a tariff) on a product inherently provokes other producers to force up their prices on similar products as well because it is free revenue, so to speak. Consider shirts for example. Many are made in China and many elsewhere like Vietnam, India, or Bangladesh. If tariffs increase the average price of shirts made in China then producers in those other countries would also raise their price because if one needs a new shirt then one needs a new shirt. If consumers are “willing” to pay at most x dollars for a shirt made in China then there is no reason why other producers would not be willing to charge x dollars or local-x dollars as well. The total number of shirts purchased may decrease, but in the short-run the consumer losses all around.

Last, new industries, manufactures, and trade partners don’t pop up overnight. Any correction to a long term China trade war will take years to correct if it persists. Traitor trump is f***ing stupid to think trade wars are easy to win or without consequence, but this is stupid America. We have so many idiots here that maybe we should start exporting them!

Posted on

Pockets of Promise and Progress

According to the AP, “Lightfoot on Tuesday became the city’s first black woman and openly gay person elected to lead the nation’s third-largest city, an overwhelming victory over political veteran and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.” Preckwinkle never had a chance because of her disastrous sugar tax, which was in effect for a few months before it was repealed because of public outcry. Ostensibly the tax was intended as means to curb unhealthy dietary habits; however, knowing that the demand for sugary drinks is notoriously inelastic to price (for most), like cigarettes, the tax was meant to fill Cook County’s budgetary gap under the guise of wanting to improve the health of the public.

Allow me to explain. The tax was an additional $0.01 on each ounce of targeted drink (soda in a bottle or at the fountain–including diet, sports drinks, some juice drinks, energy drinks, flavored water, coffee if it’s sweetened, etc.). At first, this may not seem like much but consider this typical scenario. I don’t drink soda but I do like Gatorade and load up when it’s on sale, which it usually is somewhere for a fairly routine 10 for $10 of 32 oz bottles. It doesn’t take a Leibniz to figure out that buying Gatorade on sale results in a 30% tax on a sports drink–not really the same thing as trying to deter someone from consuming a daily Big Gulp of extra-corn-syrup-added Coke. Um, no thank you! I simply shifted getting my Gatorade from Amazon in powder form for a fraction of the price compared to bottled. While I ultimately benefited by changing my market for goods, the tax was in general profoundly unfair and really targeted the poor. Needless to say, almost everyone in the county thought the same. Preckwinkle got destroyed on this single issue. She never had a chance! Chicago got smart!

Posted on

GM Caves to Dear Leader

A quick search on the economics of fascism revealed, “Fascist governments encouraged the pursuit of private profit and offered many benefits to large businesses, but they demanded in return that all economic activity should serve the national interest. … An important aspect of fascist economies was economic dirigism, meaning an economy where the government often subsidizes favorable companies and exerts strong directive influence over investment, as opposed to having a merely regulatory role. In general, fascist economies were based on private property and private initiative, but these were contingent upon service to the state.” Juxtapose this with a quote from an AP article, “Less than a week after a series of critical tweets from the president over an Ohio plant closure, General Motors is announcing plans to add 400 jobs and build a new electric vehicle at a factory north of Detroit.” GM’s actions after a traitor trump tirade is not a coincidence. If GM really wanted to soften the blow from announcing the Lordstown plant closing, then they would have coupled the announcement with information about adding 400 jobs and building a new electric vehicle in Detroit. All too often traitor trump bitches about some company and then a week later said company does something to please him (e.g., see USA Today, Bloomberg, Fortune). When corporations start to worry about pleasing the Dear Leader then we are f***ing screwed because they only encourage his delusions of self-importance and authoritarian tendencies. Welcome to stupid America!

Posted on

Capitalism 101

According to a Bloomberg article, “‘Capitalism is an ideology of capital–the most important thing is the concentration of capital and to seek and maximize profit,’ Ocasio-Cortez said. And that comes at any cost to people and to the environment, she said, ‘so to me capitalism is irredeemable.’ Though she said she doesn’t think all parts of capitalism should be abandoned, ‘we’re reckoning with the consequences of putting profit above everything else in society. And what that means is people can’t afford to live. For me, it’s a question of priorities and right now I don’t think our model is sustainable.’” I understand why RepubliKKKlans and MAGA morons deride AOC because she is fearless and usually more right than wrong.

Capitalism 101: What is the ultimate goal of a capitalistic system? To what do individuals (people and firms) aspire in capitalism? Anyone? Anyone at all? Hint: a famous board game was created based on it. I realize that I am back in remedial 090-level college thinking for most Americans. The correct answer is a monopoly. In theory, free and fair markets should always be in direct competition, and the ability for everyone and anyone to be competitive according to their endeavors and industriousness should keep any one individual (or firm) from monopolizing. This is supposed to be the theory, at least! Clearly, we live in a different reality. Individuals and firms all too often do achieve monopolistic competitive advantages when markets are not well regulated — and even when they are. In short, our society thrives and prides itself on amassing more wealth (capital) than the other person. In some sort of demented fascination with wealth, stupid America admires and aspires to be like billionaires and mega-monopolies at the expense of others and, ironically, at their own expense. We are a society bent on self-centered greed, and capitalism is the perfect rat-race vehicle to achieve such aims because everyone thinks they will be the next Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos. Everyone thinks they are the exception to the rule, not realizing American capitalism is doing more to keep them poorer than make them richer. This country relishes and rewards the zero-sum game. This is why the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer; this is why people want politicians to keep their hands off their capitalism, despite capitalism more generally failing them, and they are clueless as to why. But this is stupid f***ing America!

Capitalism can be saved, however. Democrats try to save it every 4-8 years, yet they are usually feckless attempts. RepubliKKKlans and MAGA morons ensure that America’s version of capitalism remains unfair and unbalanced. Conservatives want the average American angry, fighting amongst each other for scraps of the American dream, and fearful that a poor person is coming to grab that piece of bread from their hands, while RepubliKKKlans give more tax breaks to billionaires and corporations. RepubliKKKlans have the average American moron convinced that sh*t somehow rolls uphill. It’s not the rich and powerful making one’s life miserable and more difficult; it must be the fault of the poor and powerless beneath them. Welcome to stupid America, where voting against one’s own self-interest is raised to an art form that even Adam Smith would find astonishing!

Posted on

Economics, Baby Part I

From an article in the NYT, “America’s trade deficit in goods with the rest of the world rose to its highest level in history last year as the United States imported a record number of products, including from China, widening the deficit to $891.3 billion and delivering a setback to President Trump’s goal of narrowing that gap.” Fan-f***ing-tastic! I’ve been waiting for the right event to write a post about economics, and this report on the trade deficit is perfect in so many ways. Let me preface my comments by saying one of the few aspects of life that pervades all of society yet is little understood by the vast majority of people is economics! It is astonishing that such an important subject is so scantly understood by almost everyone in this country, beyond the supply-and-demand mantra. (I doubt most people can graph supply and demand curves.) While quantum physics, multi-variable calculus, and microbiology are examples of subjects that the average person can live without comprehending, economics is not if one wants to be an informed and useful voting citizen. Perhaps I expect too much. It should be critically important to everyone to grasp a rudimentary understanding of how individuals and firms (aka markets) and society (aka government) interact and allocate scarce resources–capital, labor, resources, and time. Morons of America fail to realize that economics is all around us every day and in every moment and in every decision. Unless we live in a limitless world then we cannot escape economics, yet most people have no clue what economics means. That, my friends, is the definition of a motherf***ing G.D. stupid America!

So, where to begin? First, as with every president, the state of the economy, in the short-term, is out of his control, until longer-term actions like legislation (e.g., tax cuts) and policy (e.g., tariffs and regulations) take full effect–usually 6-18 months from the time of implementation. In other words, it takes a while for any new administration to affect the economy, and traitor trump is firmly beyond the 18-month mark, so he, in short, owns this economy, for better or worse (and it is starting to show signs of weakness around the edges). Can you imagine how strong the economy might be if he knew what the f*** he was doing? Moreover, it drives me absolutely f***ing G.D. nuts when traitor trump claims (and others agree) he’s created the best economy ever in the first year of his presidency because at that point it really is still Obama’s economy; the only thing traitor trump can take credit for is not destroying the economy quicker! But morons of America don’t know any better because, of course, a $20.50 trillion economy (2018 estimate) turns on a dime! Naturally, MAGA morons believe traitor trump walked into the Oval Office, snapped his fingers, and then people suddenly started hiring more, buying more, and making more. F*** me! I’m surrounded by idiots of America.

Second, traitor trump pretends to know everything (indeed, more than anybody else) about the economy (e.g., “trade wars are good, and easy to win” or coal is making a comeback in America because he simply says so, never mind the economics of energy dictates that coal is no longer competitive with natural gas and oil–this is a continuation of a long-term economic trend, which he cannot reverse). Even before MAGA morons elected traitor trump he demonstrated no basic understanding of economics. He thought the economy could bend to his whim: he’ll fix the trade deficit by mere fiat or wishful thinking. Guess what? Sudden, capricious tariffs are not a way to fix the trade deficit. Because other countries will (and do) retaliate. So, here we are with Mr. Economics thinking he’s fulfilled one of his campaign pledges. Only he can correct the trade deficit because previous administrations were so dumb they let other countries take advantage of America by somehow letting us demand cheaper products from other countries like China.

Posted on

Economics, Baby Part II

Third, he still doesn’t seem to understand the concept of a trade deficit. He acts as if it’s a perpetual amount of money that other countries owe us or that other countries are taking our money (presumably against our will), but in reality, all a deficit means is that we import more than we export, so a trade imbalance in and of itself is not a bad or a good thing, per se. It is simply one measure of economic activity and health, but according to traitor trump, it’s the single barometer of the nation’s economic acumen (or lack of it)–or in his own parlance how much America is getting “screwed” by other countries. The entire purpose of international trade is to leverage a national competitive advantage–in both directions. Typically, one nation provides to another nation some good or service that the home nation cannot do for themselves better or for cheaper or not at all. One hopes that the amount and extent of trade will be mutually beneficial (i.e., free and fair) to both countries. Anyone who has taken an international economics course understands this. I know, I know. I’m talking about a 400-level college topic to a remedial 090-level college algebra America. Because this country is stuck on buying cheap then we are China’s best, willing customers. That includes the traitor trump family (“allegedly”) where their merch is produced. The hypocrisy is astounding yet completely lost on MAGA morons and RepubliKKKlans.

Last, traitor trump has no motherf***ing clue how tariffs work. Whenever he discusses the topic he intimates that other countries pay for tariffs as if the Chinese government, for instance, must reach into its treasury and pay a penalty to the U.S. government. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tariffs are a tax that the importer pays to the home government. One could reasonably argue that some foreign companies may wish to cover (or that government subsidizes) the added tax expense to keep the total expense of exporting their products the same (and therefore competitive); it is one option for exporters. The more likely consequence is that the importing company absorbs the tax expense initially; however, the cost of the tax is eventually passed down to the end consumer. In other words, it becomes inflationary, and not only inflationary to the imported products but to domestic substitute products as well. Consider traitor trump’s brilliant steel tariff. Not only does it cost more to bring steel into the country, but it inherently incentivizes domestic steel producers to increase prices to match import prices. So when idiot traitor trump and MAGA morons think tariffs are only punishing other countries, it is in effect punishing the very same average American that his idiot supporters like to think he cares about (think farmers).

Traitor trump in all his stupidity unnecessarily set himself up to fail with his ridiculous economic and trade pledges, and MAGA morons and RepubliKKKlans are so f***ing stupid they believe whatever B.S. he is selling them as being easy: trade wars are good and winnable, 3-5%-plus annualized GDP growth, reducing the trade deficit, or cutting taxes and reducing the national debt. He keeps telling everyone that everything is just so easy to fix because, unlike himself, all his predecessors were just too f***ing stupid, so here we are in the midst of the presidency of the dumbest person ever to hold office and things are starting to show signs of cracking. Welcome to stupid f***ing America!